House of the Dragon: The Bracken and Blackwood Feud, Explained

One of the central themes of House of the Dragon is the idea of grudges passing down family lines. When one citizen of Westeros hurts another, they run the risk of starting a generations-long feud and eventually wiping out all participants. The legendary Dance of the Dragons can be said to start at several points, but the first proper exchange of violence came in the Battle of the Burning Mill. While they may say they are fighting for Rhaenyra and Aegon, Houses Blackwood and Bracken had plenty of reasons to draw swords.

Huge events in A Song of Ice and Fire emerge from relatively minor catalysts. House of the Dragon season two, episode three, reveals that a considerable percentage of the Dance of the Dragons results from a simple misunderstanding. While that can seem like a tiring trick to avoid anyone seeming unduly villainous, the way that people interpret mistakes, new information, and changing tides can reveal more about them than a well-laid plan ever can. No one saw the Brackens and Blackwoods coming, but that doesn’t make their battle unimportant.

Why do Houses Bracken and Blackwood hate each other?

Houses Bracken and Blackwood are neighbors that have shared a feud for thousands of years. Their conflict dates back to the Age of Heroes, the era of adventure immediately following peace between the First Men and Westeros’s indigenous species. The Bracken and Blackwood families trace their lineage back to the First Men who settled Westeros. Each family has a version of their story. No one knows exactly where House Bracken started their quest in Westeros. House Blackwood claims to have once ruled much of the northern forest known as the wolfswood before House Stark drove them south. In due time, both families ruled as kings in the Riverlands. Each dynasty accuses the other of usurping their throne. The Blackwoods claim that the Brackens were minor petty lords, more concerned with breeding horses than claiming territory. The Brackens argue that the Blackwoods were their vassals. Each points their fingers at the other, each charging the other with hiring sellswords and stealing the throne.

There’s no telling which story is accurate, and there’s reason to believe they’re both wrong. Houses Bracken and Blackwood have created temporary peace arrangements several times. Several of those bonds were reinforced through marriage, ensuring that every Bracken has some Blackwood blood and vice versa. The first peace agreement came when both families fought against the Andal Invasion. They lost, but at least they lost together. This brief enemy-of-my-enemy relationship fell apart when House Bracken converted to the Faith of the Seven, turning away from their previously shared Old Gods. House Blackwood accused House Bracken of poisoning their sacred weirwood tree, an act of violence from their new religion against their old one. There’s no proof of House Bracken’s involvement, but House Blackwood took this apparent offense so seriously that the dead tree is on their crest. A bastard son of both houses named Benedict Rivers eventually defeated all the petty lords of the Riverlands and became King Benedict the Just, founding House Justman and ruling for over 300 years. The Houses fought each other shortly before Aegon’s Conquest, leaving them both weak. Though they both supported Aegon I, he pushed them both aside in favor of House Tully.

Which House wins the Battle of the Burning Mill?

The books and show handle this conflict slightly differently. There’s not much of a winner in either version. House Blackwood declares for Rhaenyra, while House Bracken supports Aegon II. The books depict the battle beginning after Lord Samwell Blackwood sent rangers into Bracken territory, forcing Ser Amos Bracken to march soldiers into Blackwood land. The Blackwoods ambush the Brackens, but Amos slays Samwell in single combat. His victory was short-lived, as Sam’s sister put an arrow through Amos as the Brackens retreated. They find their castle occupied, as Daemon Targaryen has already claimed it. The show depicts a brief exchange between children. The series invents young Davos Blackwood and Aeron Bracken. They argue, draw swords, and eventually spark a massive battle with heavy casualties on both sides. Aegon II considers it a victory, as Samwell dies off-screen, but his small council is quick to remind him that the overwhelming losses invalidate any perceived accomplishment. No one mentions Amos after the fight, leaving his fate unknown.

Does the Blackwood/Bracken feud ever end?

The feud continues into the modern era. Houses Blackwood and Bracken make peace, settle old arguments, kill each other in tournaments, fight brief wars, and become enemies all over again. A line in A Feast for Crows sees an onlooker mention that a pile of dead Blackwoods were buried next to their Bracken foes. Jaime Lannister gets stuck defusing yet another conflict in A Dance with Dragons. He essentially moderates the debate between the victorious Jonos Bracken and Tytos Blackwood. Jaime helps work out an equitable exchange of land after the fight, then tells Jonos to send one of his daughters to serve Cersei at King’s Landing as payment. Hoster Blackwood, Tytos’s son, sums up the history beautifully:

We’ve had a hundred peaces with the Brackens, many sealed with marriages. There’s Blackwood blood in every Bracken, and Bracken blood in every Blackwood. The Old King’s Peace lasted half a century. But then some fresh quarrel broke out, and the old wounds opened and began to bleed again. That’s how it always happens, my father says. So long as men remember the wrongs done to their forebears, no peace will ever last. So we go on century after century, with us hating the Brackens and them hating us. My father says there will never be an end to it.

Houses Blackwood and Bracken are seemingly happy to fight forever. They’ve been on the same side in several fights. They’re vassals of the same ruling lord. As easy as it would seem to be to forgive each other, forgiveness never seems to stick. House of the Dragon skims over the Battle of the Burning Mill, but it’s only one note in thousands of years of conflict.